Training
by adbhut
Summary: Friendship fic, First season. Fed up with Kai's rude behavior and slave driving training, Bladebreakers decide that they are better without him. Will they be able to handle everything without him or will Kai save the day again?
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.** \- Hey guys! this is my first fic so please let me know how i know improve my writing in the reviews. This is set in first season after episode 20 when the Bladebreakers go to the forest for a two day training camp. They meet a Antonio there but he is not included in my story.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade or any of it's characters.**

 **Training**

Tyson was panting heavily. He stopped jogging and leaned on a tree for support. He was covered with sweat and his feet were tired of all the exercise.

"Tyson! Stop cutting corners and get back here!" Kai shouted. He Ray and Max were now about twenty meters ahead of Tyson.

"I'm… coming." Tyson panted "just…. Give-me… a-mi….a-minute-guys."

They were in training camp or "total dump" as Chief had called it. Mr. Dickinson had arranged a two-day training camp for the Bladebreakers in the forests of America. They had just reached America the day before and had the opportunity to visit the BBA research facility where Max found out that his mom was the coach of their rival team- the PPB All Stars. Eddie, a member had defeated Ray in a beyblade match pretty bad and now Drigger's blade was being reconfigured by Kenny who sat inside the cabin in a shady room surrounded by a box full of spare parts. The bladebreakers were in for a surprise because when they thought of training camp, they thought of fancy equipment and shiny beystadiums. But Mr. Dickenson had only left instructions to an isolated cabin by a lake "in middle of nowhere" as Kai had put it. They had an axe as equipment for cutting wood and tree stumps as beydishes with no connection to the outside world whatsoever. Grandpa was now cooking lunch for them (he had claimed that cooking a meal in these conditions for five hungry kids including Tyson would require at least a three hour head-start) and Kai had decided that they needed training. So here they were, out in the blazing sun in scorching heat and untamed wilderness working their asses off.

Kai however seemed to have a hidden stash of energy inside him. They had a warm-up session which consisted of running and climbing (mostly climbing-much to Ray's pleasure but difficulty for others) up the rocks near the waterfall. Then they practiced with their beyblades. It was then followed by a session of weightlifting in which they made hand weights using branches and stones. Everyone was exhausted except for their captain, who insisted they keep going. At last he decided to end it when Max practically begged him by his puppy face. Correction – sweaty, puffy and tired puppy face.

But then also, it did not end. After a fifteen minute break, they were on their feet again, jogging back to the cabin when Tyson finally gave up. He had accidentally dropped one of the weights and 5 kgs of dead weight just crashed on his toe. He waved it off saying it was nothing because he didn't want to get told off by Kai or fussed over by a worried Max. He was now leaning against the tree for support and to give his foot some rest. Ray took pity on him jogged back to his direction. He put an arm around Tyson to support his weight.

"Tha…thanks Ray … but….I…. can ma….manage…" He was still out of breath.

"Yeah, I can see that" Ray said sarcastically as he helped him. After a few meters, Tyson didn't need Ray's help and the two then increase their pace to join Max and Kai who were far ahead. By the time they caught up with them, the cabin came into view. They could see the old structure standing peacefully by the lake. It was a beautiful view, Tyson thought – the clear blue sky, the breathtaking majestic mountains, the tall trees, the Grandpa climbing the trees, the melodious song of the birds….. wait what?

"Grandpa! What do you think you are doing? Get down. OW!" Tyson yelped in pain. He was running towards the that tree but he hit a pebble with his injured foot in the process.

"Huh? What's up you homies? Finished training?" Grandpa asked looking down from the branch he was sitting on.

"Grandpa you are coming down this moment!" Tyson scolded him trying not to put much weight on his wounded right foot. The old man jumped down from the branch and landed on the ground quite gracefully. He sure loved to stay young!

"It's about time you kiddos showed up, lots of work to be done. What do you say huh? Got energy left to chop the wood?"

"Why can't Kenny do this? Here we are training like crazy and now we have to do the chores and he gets to sit quietly in room fiddling with beyblades." Tyson complained.

"Tyson don't talk like that, he must be working his fingers to the bone. We'll help grandpa, but first things first, I'm starving."Max said merrily, everyone now called Grandpa Granger by that name.

"You can say that again Max, it feels like eternity since we had our breakfast." Ray chimed in. They had almost reached the cabin.

"heh heh! Alright my homies lunch is ready, just call that little dude outside and we can have lunch outside. He locked himself up in the room as soon as you left and has not been out even once." Grandpa said. He was really fond of these children. Stanley surely had put together a great team of boys.

After lunch they helped in cutting wood - man, it was more tiring than it looked. They all took turns to finish the chopping and taking the logs to the kitchen. Then they all sat by the lake while Kenny was fiddling with Drigger's new prototype.

"Guys, we are in for a big challenge, I mean Emily took me down within seconds of the starting of the match. I think this one will be hard to win." Max mused.

"Don't let it get to you buddy, you were not expecting her to be that strong. None of us were actually. We'll shatter them to bits in the tourney."Tyson tried to cheer up his friend.

"Yeah we'll win. It will be hard but we still have time to get better at our game." Ray said.

"Don't sweat it; with this kind of preparation, we won't get past the prelims." Kai snorted.

"Are you scared that a bunch of high tech scientist assistants who only rely solely on their beyblades' shiny features will beat you?"Tyson teased.

"Never underestimate your opponent. Plus, if you did'nt notice, we lost pitifully to both the team members we had a match against."

"Why do you have to be such a pessimist?"

"Actually, Captain cool is right here Tyson. The data analysis shows that Emily's stats are equal to Max but since they know almost all his moves, she has a big edge on him. As for Ray, his defense is better than Steve's but the Tryhorn attack is stronger than his Tiger Claw. Steve's stamina is also better. And to top it off, we don't have any data on the other two members of the team while they know all of our moves as good as us." A female voice spoke from Kenny's computer.

"Dizzi is right guys, we have to practice like there is no tomorrow if we want to at least stand a chance against the All Stars. But don't worry, I have designed a schedule starting this evening for us to train on. Here" Kenny said giving Ray a sheet of paper.

Ray scanned the paper. It was a tight schedule, apart from break during mealtimes; they only got rest at night that too for only six hours. Though it didn't bother him, he knew his younger teammates would have serious difficulty, as for Kai, well… Ray suspected he helped in making the programme. The guy would train on for days at a stretch forgetting even to eat or sleep if left to his own devices so he would not have problem.

"It sure is a bit demanding but I think we will come out alive. But there is one problem, I don't have a beyblade right now so no matches for me sadly." He said.

"That is not a concern, I made you a temporary beyblade for this using the spare parts we found." Kenny said.

Max peeked into the paper, bringing his head in between Ray's and the schedule.

"Wow, we sure are in for a tough one. Wait what?! No! we can't have endurance training for 2 hours, there must be a mistake Kenny."

"It's no mistake, I asked him to include that and the weightlifting sessions. A blader's game is as good as his physical state." Kai said quietly, looking at Tyson pointedly.

"Hey since when are you calling the shots?" Tyson asked offended. Kai raised an eyebrow as if to ask how he can manage to ask such dumb questions.

"Chill Ty, he is the captain. Besides a little diet will do you good." Ray winked.

"Diet? What diet?" Tyson asked alarmed.

"Oh you'll see." Kai smirked evilly.

 **A.N. -** I know the story hasn't gone anywhere. I just found it very hard to end one scene and enter into another but i think next chapter will hopefully be better.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N. ; Hi guys! In the last chapter, I wrote that Eddie had defeated Ray but I Checked and it was Steve. Sorry, my bad. Also, I have not re-read the story to check for mistakes. Please let me about them if you find them.

Disclaimer: I don't own beyblade :(

Chapter 2

Max gaped at the 'food' in front of him. He looked beside him to see Tyson with the same expression on his face.

They had finally sat down for supper after the crazy training that evening. Kenny, it turned out, had made them new launchers on which he was working on since the Asian tournament. It had a metal body and notches on the ripcord were deeper and these, according to him, gave extra attack force and increased the rotation speed. But they were really heavy and it required more force while pulling the ripcord.

"Training will finish after everyone masters these" Kai had declared which sounded alright at that time but it was not so easy. It took about three hours, a cracked laptop screen and a broken window to be able to at least keep the beyblade spinning for enough time to satisfy Kenny with their performance . By that time everyone was more than glad for the training to have ended and lined up to use the only bathroom .

Max was the last to enter the kitchen and saw boiled broccoli and Brussels sprouts kept on the dining table. There was a vegetable soup, some rice and a big jug of milk sitting beside it. No noodles, no sushi and sadly no ice cream for which he had been craving for. He looked around at others, Tyson's mouth was open like a goldfish and eyes were round. Kenny looked really uncomfortable standing between Max and Tyson. Ray wearily looked at Kai who was leaning on a wall, eyes closed, arms crossed across his chest, then looked at grandpa who shrugged and continued arranging the cutlery, and again at Kai. He then sighed and sat down at the table and grandpa also joined him.

"What is this Grandpa?" Tyson asked, still standing, eyeing the food like a supermodel who looks at split-ends in her hair.

Grandpa again shrugged "ran out of meat" he said, and took out a paper from his pocket and tossed it over to him. Max caught it and unfolded it.

DIET CHART

Breakfast- Cornflakes/ Oatmeal,Eggs,Fruits

Lunch- Some Protein, Salad, Yogurt

Snacks - Fruit juice /1/2 Cup Slow-Churned Ice Cream/ Mini quesadillas

Dinner – Vegetables, Soup, Protein, Milk

They both looked at Kenny standing between them, he had broken into a cold sweat.

"Kenny, did you prepare it?" Tyson asked in a dangerously sweet voice. Kenny, knowing it would be best to get from his more than annoyed teammates , slowly walked towards his seat and sat down and helped himself with some rice pretending not to have heard anything.

"Kenny!"

"Alright! I made it, but Kai asked me to." He said in a squeaky voice . "It is very healthy and will provide you with the energy you need to win this tourney."

"You mean we will be following this throughout the tournament?!" Ray could no longer remain silent

"I don't think we will make it out alive with this…." Max wondered. He had forgot to pack mustard sauce in his bag and it wasn't exactly possible to, like, go an buy it from a nearby grocery shop.

"I refuse to eat this claptrap." Tyson puffed up his cheeks and stomped his foot like an angry five year old.

"We will be eating this and if you don't want to then you are free to skip dinner.." Kai said, leaving his previous position and pulling out a chair to sit.

Tyson was fuming,"look here", he said,his voice shaking with anger"I want to the All Stars as much as you do but this er food (he cringed while saying that) will get us straight to the hospital."

"Hey! I worked hard on this plan, don't say things like that!" Kenny said looking a bit put down.

"But I think it went too far this time Chief" Max said gently.

"Anyone who has a problem, are free to not to eat as I said before." Kai said in a authoritative voice.

"Oh shut up! you are just doing this for the fun of it." Tyson said.

Kai was about to retort but Ray intervened, "come on guys, what is done is done, we can't remake the dinner. Plus, this thing IS healthy and something is better than nothing."

He helped himself with some broccoli and started munching, " It is not that bad." he said thoughtfully.

Max took his first bite of Brussels sprouts and gagged, he then decided to stick with rice and soup. Tyson managed to down some broccoli but the look on his face was of pure disgust. Kenny was not having much problems or maybe he was just hiding it as he was the one to plan it. Kai was eating normally. but then again, it was Kai - you could serve him cardboard and ketchup and he would still be his aloof self and not notice. He drank some milk and got up with a quiet "I'm done." , put his plate in the sink and turned to the others. "Finish up quickly and meet me outside. We still need practice to master these." He held out his launcher, "You've got twenty minutes." and left the room, Tyson making faces at his back.

Kai had set up an obstacle course, he had taken some of the logs and placed them side by side to make a smooth surface. he then placed pebbles, twigs and some sand at random intervals. The blades were supposed to dodge the obstacles and find a way to remain standing in the sand.

They all practiced till their arms were sore and feet could no longer carry them. Max was having difficulty in mastering these as his blade always stopped spinning in the sand.

"You are not concentrating properly!" barked Kai. " fifty extra sit-ups tomorrow."

"Hey! my blade is not designed for all this, it will take time." Max defended himself.

"Stop making excuses, if you have not noticed time is a luxury we cannot afford. We only have till tomorrow and then there is a stupid charity match and the tournament starts after that. What if they give a desert- style beydish? Do you want to look stupid in front of your mother?"

Max winced. Kai had hit a nerve.

"Stop pushing him around, he is trying his best." Tyson called out from where he was sitting. His toe had swollen dangerously and since there was no refrigerator or ice in the cabin, he had dipped his feet in the cool waters of the lake.

" Well trying his best or not, with this kind of progress, we are going to be a joke out there. And as far as i know, the team Judy coaches is far better so our chances to win are slim." Kai scolded.

Max looked closed to tears. "I will show you I can be better than them." He then called back his Draciel and ran inside.

"Now look what you've done." Tyson said standing up, "what pleasure do you get out of this?"

"I know he can do better, he just needed some motivation."

"You call that motivation? What is wrong with you? why are you such a sadist?" Tyson shouted. There was surprise and hurt in Kai eyes but it dissipated in a moment. Tyson was too angry to notice that but Ray did. Just when Tyson was about to say more, he stepped in - second time this night.

"That's enough guys, I think we are all exhausted and moody right now. Let's not take things personally."

"Oh stop it Ray, don't you take his side now."

"I am not taking anyone's side, I am just saying that arguing is pointless."

"This so is NOT pointless, all he cares of is winning. He is not at all worried about the team's well-being."

"He does care about the team but in his own way."

"Enough! Training ends here morning, sharp at six, I want everyone ready. Latecomers will do ten extra laps of jogging." Kai said in a tone that meant the conversation is over.

"Hey! I'm trying to help you here Kai."Ray said.

"I don't need your help. Now go to bed and you better not be late tomorrow."

Ray shrugged and walked back to the cabin. Tyson gave Kai a glare and followed him.

"are'nt you coming Kai?" Asked Kenny, he was silent all the while, listening to them and trying to turn on his damaged laptop.

"I have to practise." He said and loaded his launcher.

Max splashed water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. Good. His eyes were not that red so maybe no one will notice. He then smacked himself on the head. Who was he kidding, Tyson would know in a second. He was his best friend. He smiled fondly and came out of the bathroom to see Kenny,Tyson and Ray standing there waiting for him.

"I'm okay guys, it's just..." he trailed off.

"It's alright buddy, I know it is actually because you did'nt have any mustard today." Ray winked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

"Yeah, we all know you have Mustard addiction." Tyson joked.

Max smiled at them.

"Time for bed boys. It is almost eleven" Grandpa came out of the kitchen having finished all the chores.

"Grandpa we are not eight-year-olds!" Tyson whined but yawned almost immediately.

Ray, Max and Kenny laughed. Grandpa joined them.

"Alright alright, I'm going." he said to the old man.

"He is still practicing." Kenny said looking out of the window. They had all changed and gone inside their futons.

"yeah about Kai... " Tyson said,staring at the ceiling, " I wanted to ask you all something regarding him."

"If we think he is a robot? No, we don't Tyson. You have asked that before hundreds of times." Ray said exasperated. Max chuckled.

"hehe no not that..." Tyson chuckled at that but then grew more serious," I wanted to ask you guys if you think he should be on the team."

A.N. ; Is the story too slow? And about the launchers, well, I just made it up and i am really sorry if it doesn't make any sense.   



	3. Chapter 3

**A.N**. - Hi there! Sorry for for not updating this story for sooo long. You see I had written it once but then did not save it before exiting. Can you believe how stupid I am! This chapter is dedicated to awesome **marchellv** for her lovely message which got me off my lazy ass and got me typing. She writes some really cool stories, go check them out!

One thing I wanted to clear out that this is first season story. Which means Max is a bit hyper and gives lots of bear-hugs, Kai is more withdrawn and Tyson does not respect Kai that much (yet) and gets into arguments with him often. Also, let me know if people are way too OOC.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade, the starlight fact was found on the internet and the last sentence is Dan Brown's Book - Angels and Demons - I just thought it would be appropriate for the situation. On with the story!

"If we think he is a robot? No, we don't Tyson. You have asked that before hundreds of times." Ray said exasperated. Max chuckled.

"hehe no not that..." Tyson chuckled at that but then grew more serious," I wanted to ask you guys if you think he should be on the team."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Then Ray spoke "Tyson, you are making mountains out of molehills."

"yeah Ty, Kai is our friend. True, he can be really rude at times but he always speaks the truth."Max said, his eyes gazing thoughtfully at the moonlight coming in from the window.

"Right sorry, got a bit carried away."Tyson said in an uncomfortable and apologetic voice.

"You're right Max, although I do think that he _is_ being a bit insensitive."Kenny said.

"Says the one who sabotaged the dinner working ON HIS wishes." Tyson teased.

"But it is for your own good!"

"Come on Chief! That was dreadful, "Max made a gagging gesture, remembering the awful taste of the veggies "You didn't even include mustard. I bet it is pretty healthy."

Tyson nodded his head energetically giving it his approval. Chief sighed, exasperated.

"It would be of no use as we don't have any of that here. Come on guys, we don't have it THAT bad." Ray smiled at their antics "Kai just wants us to win."

"Alrighty!Homies, enough talky-talky, now get snoring." Grandpa called.

"Why is Kai allowed to do what he wants and we are not?"

"Because I have enough brains to know what to do when to do." Kai's steely voice made everyone jump, "now got to sleep."

Everyone climbed inside their futons without a word.

Max rolled over to his other side. In spite of being dead tired from today's training, he just could not fall asleep for some reason. It was really quiet there; the silence only broken by occasional cricket or other insect's sound. Even Tyson was not snoring. "Too tired to even snore, eh Tyson?" He smiled in his head.

After some more tossing, turning, counting sheep and staring at the ceiling, he got up, careful to not to disturb others. He quietly closed the door and stepped into the hallway. "Dad always says that a glass of good warm milk gets you sleeping in no time." He said to himself.

Carefully, trying not to step on any creaky wood plank, the blonde reached the kitchen. He was about to enter when collided with something really hard and fell on the ground.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Ouch! Who is sitting on my leg?"

"Tyson?"Max asked, surprised.

"Max?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Max asked, rubbing his head where he had been hit by his friend. Tyson only looked like he was plump; he was actually very bony when it comes to colliding with someone.

"I can ask the same question." He replied from under him.

" I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither." The boy replied and his stomach growled loudly. Max chuckled, Tyson let out a dry laugh.

Silence...

"Umm Max?"

"Yeah Ty?"

"Would you get off me? It is kinda painful."

"Ah! Sorry." Max said, embarrassed, quickly getting up and offering a hand to Tyson.

They entered the kitchen, turned on the light and closed the door so that the light won't wake someone up. Ray was a really light sleeper.

"Alright then, you search the containers over there; I'll raid the cupboards. I know Grandpa. He simply cannot survive without his panda-shaped chocolate chip cookies. They have to be somewhere here only."

"I wouldn't ask about his weird shape preference."

"You better not."

They began looking through the groceries and leftovers. After a while Max glanced at the clock- one in the morning, he sighed and called out, "found anything yet?"

"No but they must be here..." Tyson replied, glaring angrily at the cupboards. As if, it was their fault, he could not get the cookies. Suddenly his eyes fell on a little bag-like thing kept on top of the tall cupboard- High above two boys who hadn't had the growth spurt yet could reach.

"It has to be the cookies." Tyson said.

"But we can't reach."

"Here climb on my shoulders."

Tyson crouched down and Max climbed, first on his back and then on his shoulders.

"Okay, I'm ready, you can stand up."

Tyson straightened up slowly but was not anticipating Max to be that heavy and lost his balance.

"Woah, take it easy."

"I would... if you... were not this heavy." Tyson said from in between his clenched teeth. His eyes tightly shut as he tried to keep them both steady. Pain in his injured toe was stirring up. But he ignored it all for the sake of food.

"Okay," Max said in an low,calm tone, now move a little more forward, ... A bit more.. A little to the.. Woah!" Tyson had lost his balance and had begun wobbling dangerously. "Alright put me down." Max stated, " This is not working"

Tyson bent down and Max got down. There has to be another way...

"Okay, I'm climbing the countertop."

" Go for it but be careful with your toe."

Tyson was already climbing up using an open drawer as a platform. He climbed up and stood on his toes and outstretched his hand to get the bag.

He shook the bag and listened to the crumbling sound - yup definitely cookies but perhaps broken up. Maybe grandpa put in the bottom of the travelling bag. He opened it and devoured the smell.

"Aaahhhh! Heavens must smell like this."

"You say that for every food item.." Max said mockingly.

"Hey! It is _my_ personal heaven," he stuck out his tongue," if I want it to smell cookie-sausage-chocolate-sushi-pizza flavour then it will. At least it is better than _your_ heaven, smelling like mustard everywhere... Oh wow, tastes good." He said munching a cookie.

"Throw some down at me."

"..."

Tyson is busy munching away when Max climbs up the countertop and tries to take grab the bag. Tyson hides it behind him.

"Aw, Tyson be a pal. Share."

"Nu-uhh" he mockingly takes out more cookie bits (the cookies _were_ broken) and stuffs his mouth, winking at Max teasingly. Max pouts and lunges at the bag. He wins in taking them out of his grasp. He took out a handful and put it in his mouth.

"Hey! I was just pulling your leg. I was gonna share." Tyson pleaded.

" Well I won't"

"You're mean."

"I'm hungry"

"Argh gimme that!"Tyson dived on Max. Max stepped back. They started kind of wrestling match. Now, remember they were standing on countertop so soon they were on the floor rubbing their limbs. Cookie bits having fallen everywhere on the floor.

"Uh oh.."

"This can't be good."

"This certainly is not good, in fact this is bad, pretty bad." Another voice said sternly from across the room.

"Ray!?"They both ask in unison.

"You better clean this up guys, if you don't want to die brutally at the hands of a furious Kai and an equally furious Grandpa."

"We can't throw the mess in trash; Gramps will know,

"Throw it out of the window then. Whatever you have to do, do it fast."

The two boys gathered up the fallen cookies in a dusting pan. Ray, seeing that they were doing their job, went back in to climb into his futon. Max opened the balcony door to throw out the stuff when he noticed how beautiful the night was. He could see the still water of the lake reflecting back the moonlight. It was a starry night.

"Wow.." He said out loud and walked outside to admire the night.

"Huh? Maxie?" Tyson went behind him.

"Wonderful." He caught up with Max."Hey look! if you join those stars there and the one down there..." He was pointing them out with his fingers," it would look like a beyblade!"

Max squinted, "Hmmmm yeah." he lit up,"Hey!Have I ever told you that the starlight is from different times, sometimes the stars are millions of lightyears apart. But it reaches our eyes at the same , when we look at the night sky, it is not just that moment but a patchwork of different times." He finished, looking proud of himself.

"I have no idea what you said but I'm impressed."Tyson said.

Max chuckled. They stared at the stars for a while in silence.

"You Should be.."Max thoughtfully said," I have been studying really hard to impress Mom."

"Oh right, ... about your mom... Are you okay with her being-"

"AAAAHHHh!"Before he could finish, someone had yelled inside the cabin.

They both ran back in towards where others were sleeping. Inside they found a frantic Kenny running around with something which looked like a cat perched on him. Ray was running after him trying to make him stop. Grandpa was looking confused and Kai was just standing there with a calm expression.

"It's about time you two showed up. Care to explain this?" He asked.

They both looked at each other with wide eyes, in the background; Ray had finally managed to calm the chief down and was trying to make him stand still in one place.

"We are not that bad ya know Kai..." Max said.

"Yeah, and if we _did_ do it, I would've set the animal on you." Tyson said winking.

Right then the animal pounced on grandpa. Turns out, Ray had tried to catch it so it had panicked and left Kenny's shirt to perch on Grandpa but missed him so now clung desperately to one side of his long dangling moustache. Grandpa, who was known to sleep with his Kendo stick, promptly took it out and started bashing it in random directions in sheer panic. The animal ran around the room like crazy.

"In the name of all the kendo masters in history, I command you to fight like a warrior!" He bellowed.

The scared animal (no one knew what it was as no one had bothered to switch on the lights) wanted badly to escape. In a room full of hysterical people, it deeply regretted it's decision to enter the place in the search of food. Never again will it go night-hunting. Someone tried to hit it with a stick, survival instincts kicked in and-

"OH GOD! IT IS A SKUNK!" Kenny had switched on the lights.

"Quick! Throw it out! It is gonna spray!"Max yelled.

Tyson went to get it but stopped abruptly. He looked at Max with a confused expression, "Wait, how do you know it is gonna spray?"

"It happens like that on cartoons."

"Really? which one?"

"Oh, you know, the with- Whoa! Kai!"

Kai had knocked Tyson down, grabbed the animal; left it on the window porch and quickly closed the window. Luckily, Max source of information was wrong and the poor animal disappeared in the bushes _without_ awarding them with a smelly spray.

Tyson stole a glance at Max who silently nodded.

"I have to go to the bathroom."Tyson announced to no one in particular.

"Aaand I will err escort you there." The blonde said.

"Wait. You two home dogs stay here and spill. This better not be a prank." Grandpa said to the youngest members of the team. (A.N. : I like to think that Kenny is older than the two but is short because well... he is vertically challenged)

"We really don't know anything about this Gramps. I swear."

"Yeah we were just looking for the cook-..mmrphhmm"

"Err... hehe. We were just looking for my Dragoon. I can't find it anywhere." Tyson tried to cover up.

"Yeah yeah, Tyson lost it while training."

"You are in the habit of keeping it under your pillow before you sleep."Kai says lazily. "The truth now."

Tyson opened his mouth, "why you-"

Ray, being too tired for another fight, intervened- third time that night... Or first time the next day... Whatever,"I assume you guys left the door open while you went for your _stroll_?" he emphasised on stroll.

"Yeah maybe we left it open... Why?" Max asked.

"Well our guest must've got in through the open door." He sighed, "can't you guys do anything without screwing up?"

He was not even scolding them- Just honestly asking them, which made them feel guilty as Ray seemed to have to have taken their side and hadn't mentioned anything about cookies.

"Sorry? I guess?" Max was the master of puppy face.

Kai sighed," Grow up you two. And fast."

Tyson decided it was better not to argue as a half-asleep, pissed off Kai seemed more dangerous than annoyed, grumpy usual Kai.

" Everyone back into your futons and get dreaming." Grandpa said.

Tyson immediately snatched the opportunity of distraction, and plopped inside the futon, covering the blanket up to his chin. Others also went to bed.

Shivers ran down his spine when Kai said, "next time you go cookie-hunting; at least take your brain along."

He didn't dare to reply.

"Oh not again!"

"I'll go get it."Ray said as he started to climb down the rocks on the waterfall. In fact it was all he was doing as the spare beyblade Kenny had given him had broken into pieces in just one fall down the slippery rocks. They were practising balancing on slippery and smooth surfaces.("You never know what terrain they'll give you in the beydish" - Kai had said.) It was already really difficult with the new launchers and now, the waterfall was spraying them with tiny droplets continuously, they had to be extra careful with their footing as they were standing on a protruding rock and one slip, they go down. Due to slippery ground, the beyblades were not getting enough friction so it was difficult to perform even simple moves. Kai was supervising them as he had mastered the challenge - He had finally let them sleep till their comfort due to protests,pleas and attempted bribery but had left to train at six a.m. sharp and had a two-hour head start on the other three.(Kenny stayed behind working on repairing Dizzie and on Drigger's new blade) Plus, Dranzer had this freaky power to get real hot and evaporate the water making it less slippery for the blade.

"Try to take help of your bit-beasts' element to put up with less friction. Concentrate harder and pull the ripcord a little faster to increase the rotation give it a try"

"Aye aye captain!" Max excitedly loaded his launcher and aim at the slippery rocks. "Concentrate Max," he mentally said to himself, "think of mom's proud face when we win the tourney."

"Three, two,one... Let It Rip!"

He sent Draciel spinning on the smooth surface. It was spinning quite swiftly and gracefully, Max was frowning in deep concentration. But, the blade took an abrupt turn. Max lost control and the blade went flying down the waterfall.

"Oops!"Max said.

"Hey Ray," Tyson called out, "you will find Draciel there too."

"Alright." Came a voice from down the falls.

They waited for Ray to come back. He was pretty quick at this, all his mountain climbing in his childhood paying off. He came back with their blades, drenched from all the diving and searching. "Here guys" he threw the blades to their respective owners. Max caught it. Tyson missed."Oh no!"

It had fallen down again.

Kai sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose - this is gonna take a while.

It was noon when they finally decided to return. Kai had announced that they would stop only when he was content with their performance. Ray was also training having borrowed 'd not been able to satisfy him - to impress him was beyond the capacity of any normal human. He wanted total perfection. But seeing that they'd skipped breakfast(which Tyson reminded them of every five minutes) and were dead tired they decided to return.

Grandpa had stuck to the diet chart but they were all too hungry to complain and started wolfing down what was in front of them.

After lunch they all sat down on the wooden floor and Kenny showed them his progress with Drigger. They then whined to him about how Kai trained them like dogs. Kai promptly snorted.

"let's go back. We have much to do before nightfall." Kai said.

"Come on Kai! We just got back!" Max whined.

"And how does that make your performance any better?"

"You were not this strict during the Asian Tournament." Tyson complained.

"Because the opponents we now face are stronger and we don't know much about them while they probably know our moves better than us. Ray was familiar with their moves which gave us an advantage." He paused, "You bunch of spoiled brats will only humiliate me if we continue at this pace. Better we don't take part at all." He had hit the wrong nerve now.

"Well don't then. It is not like you play anyway - Unless it is necessary." Kai flinched noticeably at Tyson's words.

"No need to get all heated up guys... this is just a tournament we're talking about." Ray intervened. ("Seriously!" he thought, "I should get a medal for this.")

"For you this might be 'just a tournament' Ray. But for me this is much, much bigger. I _have_ to win and I can't do that unless you _also_ win. And I don't see that happening without some tough training and guidance."

"It is always about winning is it not? Not about the teamwprk, bonds you form along the way or blading just for the love of let me tell you Mr. Kai-oh-so-perfect-Hiwatari, we can win without this drama. And we will." Tyson said but regretted those words as soon as they came out of his mouth.

Kai stood up and reached for the door. "Wait! where are you going Kai?"Kenny asked.

"Well, you all can obviously win without me." he said opening the door," So I guess I'm Luck."He walked out.

The silence that follows might as well have been thunder.

 **A.N:** Thanks for reading guys! means a lot to me. A big thanks to **Little A Granger** and **marchellv** for their lovely reviews- love you guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **A.N.** Hi! sorry for the two month one thing I'm great at is procrastinating.

First, I want to thank **Marchellv** , **Little A Granger** and **Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko** for their lovely reviews. Thanks guys!

This chapter is dedicated to lovely Little A Granger. She is always encouraging new writers like me and has a lot of love for this fandom. Love you girl!

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Beyblade or any of it's characters.

* * *

Everyone just sat there stunned for a few minutes.

"No, that is not what I meant. Wait! Kaaii!"Tyson went after him after he recovered from the shock but he was too late. Kai had already left the cabin.

"Oh shit!" Tyson ran out barefoot. He spotted Kai at some distance.

"Kai! Wait up man!" But he seemed to not to have heard him and continued on his way. Tyson ran in full speed to catch up with him.

Kai was lost in his thoughts. Tyson crossed the line sometimes. Kai was this with the tiredness (though he never admits it) from training the whole day and being stuck in a forest and stress for the upcoming tournament, you get a recipe for disaster.

"Hey! Will you just stop and _listen_ to me for a second?" Tyson said,a bit irritated.

"Hn" Kai just kept on walking.

"Look that is not what I meant okay? I was just being an idiot." Tyson said once he caught up.

"Give me one instance when you are not being an idiot." Kai said quietly.

"Alright alright. I get it. Now come, let's go back and practise."

Kai raised an eyebrow. Is he serious?

"What?" Tyson asked.

Kai snorted and continued walking. By the time others had caught up.

Kenny was panting, "Kai... You can't...can't be serious."He pleaded. But Kai was not in the mood to deal with all this.

Ray put a hand on Kai shoulder."You know we need you and Dranzer right? We're not complete without you. Cut out this attitude."

"Yeah Kai we're a team." Max added.

Great. They have to use that card. But he wouldn't fall for it. Not today. He has had enough.

Judging from the others' faces, they were waiting for his response. He just continued walking. Silent treatment works best here.(Everywhere actually, we're talking about Kai).

"Kaaaii" Kenny called out.

"Let him be alone for sometime Chief." Tyson said,"he'll come back after a while."

"But-" Max started.

"You saw what happened Max."Ray interrupted. "He wouldn't listen right him time to calm down. He'll be back barking orders at us by the night."

But that didn't happen.

The sun was set now and the first stars had begun to make their appearance. Still, Kai hadn't returned from his moody stroll.

"He is still brooding. He walks when he broods. Is it humanely possible for someone to walk this much? I'm telling you it's not. He is actually an alien from another galaxy on a secret mission to enslave our planet." Tyson joked. They were lazing around, sitting at the wooden steps that led to the house.

"...or he is just seriously thinking about resigning thanks to you." Kenny piped in.

That shut Tyson up. He held himself responsible for the drama. Though he wouldn't say it out loud, he respected and admired the team Captain. He hadn't played much since the formation of team: just once in the Asian tournament when he and Ray couldn't make it on time. But that was not needed. His silent presence lended them the strength that they needed during the matches. A reassurance, a sturdy support at time of need.

But seriously, the guy was a freak. Who runs around with dead-weights in the arm guards they wear? Or drape a scarf on them 24x7 even when the temperature doesn't justify it even remotely? Leave alone the ever-present blue triangles... And the red eyes. Tyson knew Kai didn't use contacts.( Max had asked him once and he had glared at them. Just when everyone thought he wouldn't answer, he grumbled a quite "No". And Kai never lies.) You have to leave the eyes out. Otherwise, you will highly suspect Kai to be a vampire (apart from beyblading,Tyson had a side interest for horror movies). Tyson had ruled that out considering that the sunlight did not burn the guy.( Or garlic didn't repel him. Tyson did not want to think about that incident)

He was arrogant and rude; smiled on the average of once a year; and considered having fun as his mortal enemy. His skill of shouting orders would make any Army General blush. The problem was that he bossed everyone around like he knew everything about beyblading which he actually did. This annoyed Tyson.

Okay, he has more experience but he doesn't have to rub it in. Tyson remembered the day in Hong-Kong in the hotel they were staying. Mr. Dickinson was explaining how the tournament works and Kai got up walked away saying he is not on the team with a bunch of kids. What was his problem?!

"Hey kiddos! You cool 'bout dinner by the bonfire. Last night in this old dude." Grandpa asked, thumping the walls of the cabin, interrupting Tyson's thoughts. It seems Grandpa had decided not to follow the horrible diet-chart after-all.

Oh, right. They'll be leaving tomorrow. Their training is not complete. Their mighty Captain is missing. And Drigger is still not ready. This leaves him and Max alone to face those weird lab-prepped bit-beasts. Oh joy.

They need Kai back.

Kai returned way after dark. Tyson, Max and Ray were about to go searching for him. Not that they feared he is lost or something, Kai probably had an in-built map of the whole place in his mind,Tyson thought. They had decided that it was not really a good idea to leave him alone with his thoughts for too long as he would perhaps ditch the team.

Tyson ran up to him. "Sooo?" He looked at him questioningly.

"Errr..." Tyson started," do you forgive me?"

Kai scoffed and sat down on one of the logs Max had laid around a bundle of branches with which, Kenny was trying and failing at starting a fire. The guy could work magic with all-things technology but remained baffled by other, everyday stuff that should be dead easy. Poor guy.

They had dinner in an uncomfortable silence. Tyson kept throwing stupid, expectant looks at Kai who was completely ignoring the existence of everyone around him. Max would share a look with ray everytime Tyson would huff, irritated by total absence of any response from Kai. Kenny was not good in handling this type of situation and pretended to be typing with one hand while eating with other. All the while feeling extremely awkward and mumbling mundane things.

Grandpa sensed that there was something wrong but decided to stay quiet. These boys were old enough to handle little quarrels among themselves.

Nothing interesting happened after dinner. Everyone just went to bed. Soon you could hear Tyson declaring his undying love for pizza in his sleep and Max's soft breathing. Chief was in the other room giving Drigger final touches. The other two team members slept noiselessly.

Or so it seemed. Kai lay awake. His body painfully straight. Tyson joked that Kai dreamt of being a soldier and so slept in attention position. But it was a habit actually, Kai didn't know when he picked it up, but went with it. It added to his image anyway.

He was thinking about all that had happened today. He never let his teammates' words; good or bad affect him. He did whatever he felt was best for the team. At first he felt like he was trapped with them. That these 'kids' were nowhere his level of expertise. But he couldn't deny that they were different. They didn't cling to him for power and fame, like the Blade Sharks. (Seriously, those guys would've probably licked his shoe if he asked them to.) They viewed him as an equal. As a friend.

Kai was overwhelmed and repulsive of their acceptance for him. Distrust and suspicion being his first instinct, he thought of them as inexperienced and childish for being so blindly trusting. He couldn't help but be amused by their love for the game and for their teammates. Heck. They even befriended rivals like it was the most normal thing to do.

He was shocked when he realised that he too cared for them. Not like friend or something but like a babysitter or some kind of parent.

Kai had gone to search for them in the research facility earlier when they took too long to return. Whole time that he was running through the corridors, all he could think of was what the heck is he doing?! And are these the feelings he is experiencing of...worry?

Yeah, Kai was probably the only team captain who was registered as a substitute player. He had his reasons. He didn't play as much as others because he knew they could handle the situations. Had it been dangerous of too difficult he would've gladly taken the lead.

But today shocked him. He couldn't believe he had resigned. He knew Tyson was just poking fun at him and never meant anything he said.(Does he ever? The kid would always talk first and then think) but Kai was a bit tired and was in a sour mood as the training was not going as he wished so he said he quit. He knew he would regret saying it later but he was too angry at that time. And the whole evening he just didn't understand why couldn't he tell Tyson that it is okay. That he wouldn't be leaving.

And maybe everyone thought that he had quit because when it looked like Tyson was about to yell at Kai or ask him to settle this with a beybattle, Ray had thrown Max a look and the blonde brought up the topic of Pokemon, everyone knows Tyson loved Pokemon and so the beybattle was forgotten. Argh. Why was it so hard to tell people what he was thinking? With all these thoughts still in his mind, he fell asleep.

Next day was the same. The whole ride back to their hotel was full of tense atmospheres, uncomfortable and strained conversations and confusion.

One good thing that happened was Drigger was back in action now with whole new blade. Kenny had done a great job with the attack ring so it's tiger claw attack was "better than perfect!"As Max has exclaimed happily. And the new launchers added to it's (already impressive) performance.

Once back in hotel, lots of things happened.1)Kai disappeared(again sigh...). 2)Mr. Dickinson and Grandpa got to know about the new developments,("I can't believe it! Please resolve the matter boys, we can't fall apart now" The team sponsor had said) 3)Tyson discovered that hot dogs are so much more tastier than any other form of edible substance, much to the stall owner's dismay.4) Max had the same enlightenment as Tyson, just add mustard sauce on top of the delicacy.

It was almost sun-down now and since Kai had not returned (nothing new here) they decided to go get him and get familiar with the whole city in process. Kenny had stayed back saying he'll inform them, should Kai return to the hotel using a pager. "Careful not to break it." He said as he handed it to them.

Max knew it around there so he led the way. They searched him at the Times Square, Statue of Liberty and a few other places they knew he would not be but used the excuse to visit the places. Soon, they were tired of sightseeing, the skies were dark and it looked like it would rain so they hastened the process of Kai-hunting and went straight to the places they highly suspected his presence - the alleys. Ray had suggested that they stick together instead of splitting up as only Max was vaguely familiar with the city.

It soon started to rain. And rain turned into a downpour. And within fifteen futile minutes of searching, they were lost. All the narrow passages, nooks and corners looked the same - dark,smelly(it totally "looked" smelly) and dangerous.

Tyson slipped on the wet floor."Woah" he fell with a thud.

"Careful guys, the place is slippery and uneven." Ray called out. After a while Max declared that they were going in circles as they had passed that graffiti-ed wall before.

"I think I can climb up one of these pipes and get to the rooftop. It will give us a better idea of where we are."Ray thought out loud.

"No buddy, that's too dangerous. If the pavements are slippery then think about the smooth metal pipes. And it all dark. I can't even see you guys clearly." Max said gravely, shaking his head like an adult. It was true, the alleys were pitch dark. Even the moon was behind the angry grey clouds.

"Great! Now we will remain trapped in this labyrinth of alleys for the rest of our lives while Kai must be eating hot-dogs right now." Tyson whined dramatically.

" I don't eat hot-dogs." Kai deep voice responded from behind them.

The three boys jumped. Grandpa, Mr. Dickinson, Chief and Kai were coming their way, with a flashlight in Chief's . Even they had not bothered to take an umbrella or put on a raincoat.

"What are you doing here?" Max asked.

"How did you find us?" Ray chided in.

Kenny chuckled, "As the rain got worse,we were worried about you all. Luckily I attach a GPS tracker to all my devices, including the pager I gave you..."

"Wait, why didn't you just uh... page us?" Ray interrupted.

" Well I , a million times about half an hour ago. There was no response. So either you guys have gone deaf or the pager is broken." Chief said.

Max took out the gadget from his pocket, it was wet and the screen was cracked. It probably broke when Tyson glomped Max near the ice-cream stall when Max said that next round was on him. Tyson had clung to him and he had lost his balance and fell hard on the floor.

Max rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly"heh heh, I guess Dizzi needs to find a way to make it shock proof."He said.

"And waterproof." Tyson added.

"And Tyson-proof." Ray said. "It was you who tackled Max to the floor."

Everyone laughed (except Kai of course) while Tyson pouted.

"Well it is good that you boys are unharmed. We were worried."Mr. Dickinson said.

"Yeah, now back to 'otel we go. Ya dudes are all soaked up."Grandpa boomed.

"I think we have company." Kai said so softly that they almost missed it in midst the noise the rain was making. He was standing with his arms crossed and eyes closed. God knows how the guy knows everything that is going on even when his eyes are shut.

"I was expecting a beybattle with the famous Bladebreakers before they left." A deep, rough voice with an annoying accent drawled. Everyone looked around but since it was dark and dramatically, the only flashlight's battery died just then(Tyson muttered something about this being a rip-off of a movie scene)

"Yeah, I was expecting we could get atleast two of their bit-beasts. I bet they'll get us a fortune." Another voice spoke through the darkness.

"Who's there?" Ray called out warningly, "and if you want a beybattle, meet us at the tournament. We don't accept challenges from every other person lurking in the alleys."

To add to the situation, moon came out from behind the guys came walking into sight. One was atleast 6 feet tall. He had crazy brown hair and muscles that screamed the guy loves gym. He looked about twenty. Other two were a bit shorter but still atleast a head taller than the boys. One of them wore a leathery jacket and had a big baseball bat in one hand. The other hand steadily resting on the shoulder of another boy who looked about their age...maybe a year or two older than Kai. All of them sported an abundance of piercings and tattoos. The ghostly moonlight shining on them added to the effects which made them look like villains from a cheap novel.

The six-foot-guy stepped ahead and grabbed Chief by one hand and lifted him a foot high in the air by the collar of his shirt.

Tyson, being the hot-headed, most impulsive one in team stormed towards them with a "why you-" but was promptly held back by Ray and Max.

"Put Kenny down!" He shouted in midst of struggling to free himself from the grasp of his friends"fight me if you have balls."

"Oh don't worry. We only took your friend into possession to make sure you do fight with us." The guy with the baseball bat hissed.

"Let's start with the Captain. Shall we?"The six-foot-guy said, taking out his beyblade.

Kai didn't make any movement to show that he had even heard the guy.

"I'm talking to you kid. You have the fire bird right? It will fetch us a good ten grands."

Kai opened his eyes and looked at him lazily. "I'm not on the team."He said cockily,"and I'm not interested in battling people beneath my level anyway."

The hooligans looked confused. Everyone else gaped at him.

"Forget Kai" Ray said shooting an annoyed glance at his possibly former captain."Fight Drigger instead." He held up his newly upgraded blade for their inspection.

Kai ignored them and leaned against the wall in his signature pose. From outside, it looked like he didn't care what goes on but on the inside, he was on high alert. He was watching their opponents' every movement ready to spring into action if things got out of hand.

"See that Mark? The blade looks pretty costly too. An extra bonus." The guy holding the bat said to the six-foot-guy whose name they now knew was Mark.

"Let's get the party started." Ray hissed as he loaded his blade on the launcher. The guy with the bat took out his blade got ready.

Max groaned,"oh man, this is Hong-Kong all over again."

Ray just ignored Max. "Ready when you are." He said to his opponent.

"Oh I am ready alright." The guy said.

Tyson looked really excited because he knew Ray had already won this one. The boy couldn't even hold the launcher properly, he didn't stand a chance against a pro like Ray.

He shouted,"3...2...1..Let it rip!"

* * *

 **A.N.** I don't know how a pager works (does it even have a screen?!) but I figured they wouldn't have mobiles as this is set in the year 2000 and in those days, kids here were not given mobiles. So yeah... pagers. Apologies if anything is wrong there and I think I'm technologically challenged. :( Gosh! Kenny I need you.

Thanks for reading guys! The next chapter will be up next week positively.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.** Sorry.I know I completely shattered my promise to upload this chapter within a week. I got piled with a shitton of homework and there was Diwali.

This is the last chapter. Yayy! I finished my first story! I want to thank all you awesome people for reviewing. It gave me a lot of happiness and comfort. Thanks a bunch to you for sticking around till the end and bearing with me and my pitiful updating.

Hugs to **Little A Granger, marchellv, Rapid Puzzleshipper Saiko, Soumita and mamika.** You guys are amazing!

* * *

"Let it Rip!" Tyson shouted. Two blades landed on the ground. They collided and sparks flew around. Ray's blade continued to attack the other blade while the it desperately tried to dodge. It was clear that Ray had the upper hand in this. "Finish the match Drigger." Ray calmly ordered. Drigger's blade collided with the other blade and sent it flying over the opponent's shoulder.

"That was easy. Anyone else here thinks that he can spin a top properly?" Ray said smugly.

The two other guys launched their beyblades. They seemed to be better at the game as they began repeated collisions with Drigger. It looked like Drigger was starting to lose momentum as it slowed down a , a green blur tackled one of the blades giving drigger space to regain it's composure. Ray looked beside him for a second and saw Max concentrating hard on Draciel's moves.

"Thanks " Ray called.

"Don't mention it. I wanted to show-off anyway."Max said and gave a thumbs-up.

They both continued bashing their opponent's blades. Drigger chased the other blade all over the place. Their rotation speed was so high that they were spinning perfectly even on the vertical walls.

Now the thugs were getting restless. They all launched their blades at once. Tyson, seeing this, launched Dragoon too. But it was five against three. Not fair. Grandpa, Mr. Dickenson, Kenny and Kai had taken up the role of audience.

"i'll go get some help." Kenny whispered and slipped off.

Grandpa stepped ahead and took out his shinai (kendo stick) to attack but found himself being blocked by Kai.

"K-man!"

"Don't interrupt. They have it under control."Kai said in a commanding tone.

"But it's-"

"Trust me." Kai interrupted,"they got this."

Grandpa didn't understand. But he trusted Kai to know what he was doing.

"But Kai, m'boy. They're outnumbered. I suggest you set aside your personal differences and help them." Mr. Dickenson pleaded.

Kai sighed. Could they please just listen to him once? "I don't think they need help."He said in a dismissive tone and concentrated on the ongoing battle.

Tyson was taking on two blades at once. He pulled his phantom attack and went invisible. The two fighting him were obviously not expecting this twist. The bleak light coming from moon as the only source already made it difficult to see the blade and now it was invisible. They stopped attacking and focused all their energy in keeping the balance on the watery pavement.

Meanwhile Max guided Draciel to follow Drigger and the defensive blade went into attack mode. It also started a crazy chase on the walls. They were whizzing past the windows and the little bricks at the places where paint was peeled was fun! But Max noticed that the blades were headed towards the pipes. This wasn't good. The pipes were slippery. One slip and the game would end then and there. A sharp turn would've resulted in imbalance and slipping so changing direction was not advisable. Come on Max think! We need a plan here. Suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered what Kai had said while training on the waterfall. He had asked them to use their element in their favour. Element. His element is water. How can he use water..? A smirk appeared on his face as an idea struck him.

Draciel slowed down a bit. This resulted in loss of momentum which made the blade slip and it started moving down the wall at an alarming speed.

"Max! Careful"Ray shouted. But Max ignored him and let his blade drop down. Just when he was a few centimetres from ground, he shouted, "Draciel! Now!" And the blade sprung into life. The rotation speed increased ten-fold and making most of the his element water, his let his blade slip on the walls in a calculated manner and hit the pipes at an angle. Draceil ricochetted off the slippery pipes and made a direct contact with the opponent's blade (which, noticing Max wasn't chasing was trying to get back on the ground for easy control) The hit was hard and sent both the blades into flying projectiles. Max, being the excellent strategist he was, had masterfully planned out the landing. So, Draciel hit the ground without even a little wobble.

Ray looked on, shocked.

Kai smirked.

Max had figured it out.

His opponent was really surprised by this sudden change and couldn't control his blade. It hit the six-foot-guy's blade who was still busy dodging attacks from Dragoon's invisible attacks. It caught him off guard.

"Hey! Watch where you are goin'!" he growled. It seemed that he was their boss. This split-second distraction was more than enough for Tyson to launch his attack. An invisible force of wind blew the blade off ground and it howered a feet high in the air before being thrown back down. The blade stopped spinning.

There was a loud 'Ha!'From Tyson and dragoon then became visible. It was now clanking and slashing with the one of the two blades that was left. The guy calmly walked over, picked up his blade and re launched it to shield his partner's blade from a nasty attack from Dragoon.

"That is cheating!" Tyson bellowed.

"Well, what are you gonna do about it?" The guy mocked.

Tyson lost his focus in midst of fuming at the guy. So, the opponent tackled dragoon hard. Dragoon slipped on the wet ground and collided with the wall. Tyson was blade began thrashing dragoon from one side and the wall from the other side. Man. This was bad.

Tyson winced."You'll pay for guys are the worst beybladers."

"Then how come I'm winning?" The guy stated coolly.

Tyson was about to make a retort but-

"Tyson!"Kai shouted,"Control your emotions. Chanellise the anger in the game."

Yeah. Sure. Tyson thought, easy to mumble advice, hard to follow it. He had to do something, quick,he couldn't break free,he couldn't call out Dragoon as the rotation was too slow to summon a bit-beast. Arrghh! This was so frustrating!

"Use the energy of your outrage as a fuel to your beyblade."Kai said again.

What is this guy talking about?! How in the name of God can Dragoon use my energy? Tyson was even more irritated as he could not make any sense of it.

Okay. Take a deep . Forget everything around you...

Nope. Not working. How could he calm himself down knowing that Dragoon was up against the wall?Please hang in there Dragoon I know you're stronger than this...

And then, something happened. Dragoon's rotation increased a bit. Just a bit. Only a trained eye could notice the change. Tyson gasped.

Oh.

Now he understood.

He flashed a thank-you smile towards Kai who returned it with a curt nod. Tyson though, liked to think that he saw a tiny smile on his face.

Tyson then again closed his eyes and tried to establish a connection between him and Dragoon. He imagined his beyblade to be strong and fast and wiping the floor with the thugs. He focused all his energy into that thought. Then, dragoon noticeably started to fight back. It/he resisted the blade's grinding attacks.. Seeing this development, another guy came into the game and the two blade slammed Dragoon to the bricks of the wall. But dragoon broke free. It's talisman started to glow and Tyson released Dragoon. The majestic bit-beast rose from it's bit-chip. The winds picked up and swept the two blades into a whirlwind. Tyson made sure that they dropped to ground from enough height to break them. They wouldn't be re-launching them. Tyson winked at Dragoon as it went back to it's blade.

This left two blades standing on the thugs' side.

"Drigger! Thunder Slash!"Ray unleashed his new move. His element was thunder ( **A.N.** I used to think that Drigger is for earth. Then in G-rev I found out that it was Strata Dragoon's element) sparks flew from his from the beyblade's bit chip. One of the opponent's blade collided with his. And it hit Drigger hard. It skid off dangerously, thanks for the training on the slippery waterfall rocks that day, the blade did not lose it's balance in the slippery terrain. Ray gritted his teeth and braced the blow. He decided to attack full force this time but was surprised to see that the blade had stopped spinning and was lying on the ground with little smoke swirls rising from it. Turns out, when the two blades collided on the wet pavement, the circuit was complete and electricity from Drigger's bit-chip just fried the beyblade. Ray smirked. Science always comes in handy.

Then, only one blade left spinning around. Ray looked at Tyson and nodded. Tyson smiled delightedly and looked at Max. Max understood. "Let's finish this together guys!" He said excitedly. And Drigger, Dragoon and Draceil charged towards the blade. The three blades collided with the other blade and it was crushed to pieces. Then the three called back their blades. Each of them was proud of the things that they had learned in the last twenty minutes.

"Looks like we did it guys!" Max shouted.

Suddenly, he got tackled to the ground by a crushing force. Draceil flew out of his hand.

"Ow!" A cry of pain from Tyson and Ray confirmed that he was not the only one who had been thrown to the ground.

"You!Quick! Get their blades." The leader shouted to one of the thugs.

Max struggled his best to get out of the death grip but in vain. He saw the guy with leather jacket pick up their precious blades one by one. But suddenly, Kai leapt in front of him and lifted him up by one hand. "Hey! What are you doing?! Put me down." The guy called out hanging in the air.

"Okay." Kai said and smirked and then released him. He fell hard on the ground. The blades fell out of his hand. Kai bent down and collected them. He then glared at everyone. "Let them go." He said. Ray found himself smiling. He knew it. He knew Kai was not serious about leaving the team.

The thugs looked uncertainly at their leader. He had tackled a struggling Ray to the ground and was now gaping at Kai. Kai made an annoyed and impatient sound

"I said, let them go."He repeated.

No one moved a muscle. No one was sure what to do. Even Grandpa and Mr. Dickenson were too stunned to do something.

Kai sighed. This is why he preferred to stay away from people. He walked up to Max and cluthced the thug by his shoulder and lifted him up lazily and dropped him near the wall. He threw Draceil towards Max who promptly caught the blade. Max was smiling like ear to ear at his captain. Kai tried his best not to get infected by the boy's cheerfullness.

When he went to help Tyson, the bewildered guy on top of him automatically moved away. It looked really funny, considering that the guy was a head taller and looked bulkier than Kai." You are such a show off." Tyson drawled as he caught his blade but his genuine, happy smile gave him away. Kai rolled his eyes.

The leader who was still gaping like a fish at Kai came to his senses. He got up and smirked. Kai raised an eyebrow.

"So. You think you can throw a kick huh?"He asked challengingly.

Kai didn't dignify it with a verbal response and snorted instead. The guy took it as an insult and charged ahead to punch him. Kai easily dodged.

"You wait",he grumbled and threw a kick. Kai dodged it their leader, the others also stomped towards Kai. One of them crept up from behind and delivered a karate chop on Kai but was stopped by Ray.

"No. You don't attack from behind buddy." Ray said a hint of humour in his tone. The guy sneered and punched him but Ray knew a bit of kung-fu himself, almost got out the way so the impact was way less. He tried again but Ray was ready this time and he ducked. Max suddenly pounced on the guy and pinned him to the cold,wet ground.

"Now you know how it feels like to have a person sit on you."He said in teasingly. Meanwhile Kai was enganged in a fight with two people, but it looked like he was merely dodging their blows, even succeeding in making one hit the other at times.

Tyson as it was, was great at kendo and with grandpa raining shinai on his head when he was least expecting it, his reflexes were pretty good. So, he was handling his opponent pretty good.

It all went on for a while till the leader grew impatient and picked up the baseball bat they had brought them and swung it at Kai. Kai caught it and thrust it out of his hand. His then caught the guy's collar ( this too looked pretty funny because Kai had to raise his hands quite a bit because well, the guy was tall!)And looked at the man straight in the eyes without blinking.

" I'm tired of playing around. So, either I start 'throwing kicks'",kai spat the two words," kick your ass and then you go away. Or you all will save me the energy and leave now. Because believe me, when I get violent;" kai paused for effect and saw a flicker of fear in his eyes"it gets really ugly."

He then released the guy. He looked like he wanted to run away but his pride would not let him. Finally, he spoke, " You are lucky we underestimated you," he paused. Tyson scoffed. "but next time we meet, those bit-beasts are ours." He finished.

"Yeah, sure. Like, we will ever come back in these confusing alleyways." Ray said dully.

All of them left, walking awkwardly. None of them turned back to look at the Bladebreakers. Their dignity was already in ruins.

"Hey guys, you forgot this." Max called out and threw their baseball bat towards them "oh, and please get better tattoos. You are ruining America's image man." He ridiculed. They just walked faster.

Kenny came back running with the BBA officials. "I brought some help.." he paused to catch his breath, "where are those goons?" Then he looked at their retreating backs and understood.

They all sighed. Even Kai let out a long breath. He was proud- Proud of his team, Proud of the training they endured, Proud of himself and above all, proud of his friends.

Yes, they were his friends. He admitted to himself in a fond dejection.

He looked at them. Tyson was smiling sheepishly at him, still guilty of what he had said earlier. Max was so happy, he looked like he would bounce on Kai and pull him in a dangerously tight hug any moment. Ray was looking at him with a warm, knowing smile. Kenny looked relieved that everything was under control. . He knew they could handle this without his intervention. He knew they would eventually understand his reasons to be so hard on them.

Tyson opened and closed his mouth several times, not knowing how to bring up the topic. Finally, not finding the right words he sighed and looked pleadingly at Kai. Kai decided to put the boy out of his misery.

"Sharp at six." He said. Everyone looked confused. Kai smirked.

"Tomorrow morning, sharp at six. I want everyone ready. Late-comers will do ten extra laps of jogging."

Bladebreakers were back together.

* * *

 **A.N.** Finished! I hope you like it. Was the battle scene too confusing? Please let me know my faults, I will try my best to correct them.

I have decided that I will now either upload completed multi chapter stories or stick to oneshots. Because yes. I suck at updating.

Bye. And let us all pray for people in Paris and for peace everyone in the world and hope that humanity to regains it's senses soon.


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